Twisted Destinies
by Natarii-loves-Chocolate-milk
Summary: A different sealing results in a very different course of events in the ninja world; can a Sharinganless Sasuke gain the respect of her clan, and will the pressures of family be to much for Naruto? NaruFemSasu, ShikaSaku. Narilyte's Sannin-Swap challenge.
1. Commencement

**TWISTED DESTINIES**

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A different sealing, a different set-up of the Sannin, and a different gender results in a very different course of events in the ninja world; can a Sharinganless Sasuke gain the respect of her clan, and will the pressures of family be to much for Naruto? An attempt at Narilyte's Sannin-Swap Challenge; NaruSasu, ShikaSaku, FemSasu.

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**CHAPTER 1**  
**COMMENCEMENT**

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"_Love is like a child, That longs for everything it can come  
by" ~ William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona._

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* * *

_

"You're sure about this Fugaku? It wont be an easy life for her…"

Minato gave the clan head a wary observation; he had to sure he understood what kind of sacrifice he was making before he condemned his daughter. He wouldn't say he had no qualms about sealing the beast inside his own son, but he was more comfortable with it than exposing another infant to the danger. He didn't even know if the newborn would survive; Naruto's chakra coils were still in development, but he was almost six months old now – he was more likely to survive than a newborn.

"I'm sure Minato, she'll have Mikoto and Itachi, just look after her, and the clan - they need recognition, and I think this sacrifice will be what gains that for them"

Fugaku handed his tiny dark-haired daughter to the Hokage without restraint, but the man noticed a tiny tremor in his hands; Minato frowned as he took the small baby from the man, but he made no motion to show rejection of the idea. There were better ways to achieve recognition for a clan, but it was not his decision to make. If Fugaku felt an action of this magnitude was necessary, then he wouldn't question it.

"I'll make sure of it Fugaku, and I'll keep an eye out for her myself; I know you aren't doing this for me, but you don't know what this means to me"

The words he told the man were completely sincere, and was surprised to see something of a smile on the man's face. He and Fugaku had never been close, in the academy or in the field; they had held each others backs when necessary as all Konoha ninja would, but that was about the extent of their interaction. The man's request had surprised him to say the least when he made his offer; to act as the sacrifice for the technique alone would have been momentous, but to sacrifice his daughter too?

He looked down at the small baby and sighed; she was only a little smaller than his daughter, Naruto's twin. Kushina had mentioned getting close with Mikoto at some of the pre-natal classes - he'd not made many of them due to his work. Kushina had gone into labour a few months before Mikoto, but something must have struck a chord because Kushina hadn't left her side all night.

The girl was so quiet, not like his kids had been at the same age (they were screaming hellions when they wanted to be). He didn't want to introduce the Jinchuriki to Konoha – he'd seen the mess that had made in villages like Kirigakure, and he had no wish to introduce it here. There was no true way to kill the nine demons, and controlling them was just as hard.

He didn't want to put a child through that; if it had been Naruto, he could say he had faith that he would control it, that he was leaving him with a power boost, but the baby in his arms was not Naruto. He barley knew Fugaku and Mikoto; how was he supposed to subject a completely unfamiliar child? It didn't sit well with him at all.

"You realise she'll probably never activate the Sharingan? The energy required fro the seal to function will be taken from that which usually controls the Sharingan. What will your clan say?" Minato informed him worry growing in his voice again.

Fugaku took on a distant look, mulling the information over; it somewhat defeated the purpose of his decision. The clan wouldn't take well to a main-line Uchiha without use of the Sharingan, but he had to do something. The clan had been in the bad books of Konoha since their ancestor had supposedly let loose the Kyuubi on the first Hokage, and if that continued... He didn't want to know road the clan would take without some sort of recognition.

"I am not worried; Itachi is already turning into a rather protective sibling, and his own expertise is phenomenal without his bloodline. He will look after her." he stated with no hint of doubt in his voice; he was at least certain of that, if nothing else.

Minato considered his words, strait-backed stance, and firm decision in his movements.

"Very well; lets get this show on the road shall we?"

* * *

Minato watched as his three year old son glared at his student, hovering in front of his twin sister and Sasuke, from his office window; Kakashi had been charged with the duty of babysitting that day, and his son didn't like the boy one bit.

His dislike for the grey-haired boy seemed to involve one of the boy's dirty books (he'd have to remind himself to berate Tsunade for that when she next paid a visit), but he had yet to find out what. Finally, Kakashi managed to convince the three year old that Ichiraku's was not poisonous and the three children accompanied the boy into the small stand eagerly. He wished he could spend more time with his own children, but it was impossible.

He had managed to finally make peace with Sunagakure, even managing to secure the proper treatment of their on Jinchuriki; he knew what the boy's father had been planning the moment he'd seen him look at his red-headed son, but his efforts had not been without sacrifices on his family time. Kushina was supportive but Naruto...

The war with Iwagakure was beginning to spike its nose again, and he'd been up to his ears in negotiations, peace talks, and death threats since the twins had turned one year old. He barley saw his family, and Naruto was not happy with him at all. Kushina had a Genin team of her own to teach now that the twins were a little older, so more often than not they were in the care of a baby sitter like Kakashi.

It didn't help that, since the sealing, he and Kushina had formed a closer bond with Mikoto Uchiha and her small family - he had taken it upon himself to make certain the former Ex-Jonin was full capable of leading the clan as her husband had before his sacrifice. With a seat as one of his advisers, alongside his old rival Orochimaru, the dissentry in the clan had calmed; he and Mikoto and Orochimaru were already endeavouring to reintegrate the Uchiha clan into the main village again. It was slow going, but it was progress.

Progress though it was, once again it put a strain on his relationship with the twins; Sakura was nowhere near as obvious with her feelings as Naruto, but every so often he caught a look from her. She was always happy to see him, but she was good at hiding her glare on the rare occasion she was awake when he left the house for work.

Naruto was not so surreptitious; it was downright obvious that he didn't appreciate being pushed to one side so often by work, and he had no qualms with openly glaring at him over the breakfast table. He was amazed that Naruto hadn't taken his frustrations out on Sasuke; she saw more of him than Naruto did after all.

A knock on the door and a reminder from Obito told him that it was time to start mission hand-outs for the day, and his attention was once again diverted from his two children towards his job.

* * *

Naruto glared at the grey haired boy who they had had been placed with for the day; he didn't like him. He didn't have an exact reason for his dislike, but the way Aunt Rin had reacted when she saw him reading that book he kept in his back pocket was enough for him. She never shouted. If Aunt Rin was shouting, then there was a very good reason for it.

Even Sasuke's uncle Obito had been wary of the book; his three year old mind concluded that if Kakashi liked the book, then he was to be avoided at all costs. Now the older boy wanted to drag Sakura and Sasuke into the weird shop that his dad dragged them too when he had five minuets to spare during his lunch hour – not that he often had a lunch _hour _either.

Naruto dug his heels into the ground resolutely, Sakura and Sasuke taking the hint and standing behind him; their opinions of Kakashi weren't too admirable either, but he was oldest, so he was in charge. Not because they were girls, cause Sasuke could be really mean sometimes, and Sakura had a really nasty temper, but he was older – that was how it was.

"Don't wanna!" he repeated.  
"Naruto, I promise you I'm not going to be mean, I just want you guys to eat some lunch! You like Ichiraku's don't you?" the fifteen year old pleaded.  
"No! Mama's ramen!"

Behind him Sakura nodded her head enthusiastically; Ichiraku's was good, but their mothers ramen was the best. She just wished she could have it more often. Their mother was around much more than their father, but it would be a close call if she had to decide who made their dinner more between Kushina and their babysitters.

"Come on, please? Your mum is in Iron Country this week! You can have three bowls, I promise!"

Naruto considered it; they were hungry, but he didn't want to give in to Kakashi so easily. He glanced over his shoulder to Sasuke and Sakura; Sakura seemed amiable to anything as long as she got fed, and Sasuke gave the boy a scrutinising gaze before giving one affirmative nod. Apparently hunger was more important than avoiding the fifteen-year old.

Kakashi was openly relieved and immediately ushered the three-year-olds into the ramen shop. Ever since Tsunade had thrown her porn book under his nose, people kept turning their nose up at him. It wasn't even that good! Really, he reads the book once and three-year-olds want to kill him? That was just sad!

* * *

For the next two years, Sasuke remained a rather quiet child - she had the glare of her dead father (she assumed 'dead' meant 'not there') and of her brother when she was mad, but she could blush like the five-year-old she was when pleased or embarrassed. She liked the colour blue, tomatoes, and would secretly admit she liked Naruto and Sakura as much as the amazing Senbei shop her grandparents ran.

Naruto's antics always entertained her, and when she was tired of his stupid boy stuff she and Sakura could go to the park with Ino and have some fun of their own whilst Naruto rolled around in the dirt with the boy the other boys. She had an amazing older brother; at five years old, Sasuke would have been hard to convince that the sun did not rise because of Itachi's say so. She point-blank adored him; well most of the time - she didn't like that thing he did with her forehead so much.

She had the best mother in the world; though she was often busy, she always had time to ease her worries or smother her in (secretly enjoyable) motherly affection. Naruto and Sakura didn't see as much of their own parents, and she knew it would be unwise to take it for granted.

Yes, for the most part she was a very happy child. The only thing in her life that unsettled her were the nervous looks from some of the villagers, and the pitying looks she got from her own family members; she didn't really understand why, but she was certain it was because she was at fault in some way.

It bothered her - she didn't understand it and no one explained - but it was not a concern of hers for the moment. She was too young to fully comprehend the glances, and too enthralled with the good side of her young life to pay it any special attention. Yes, life for Sasuke Uchiha was fairly good for a five-year old.

Things began to depreciate about two weeks before her sixth birthday; it was a usual sunny July afternoon when Sakura turned up on the doorstep without her brother. This was unusual; Naruto was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave when they met up. The next indicator that things were less than genial that day was the frown on Sakura's face.

"Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke asked the question almost immediately, pulling on her sandals so they could go play down by the lake as they usually did. Sakura waited until she had them strapped on before heading down the street on the route to the lake. Sasuke quickly caught up with her after letting her Uncle Obito know she was leaving – her family always seemed to panic unnecessarily if she disappeared without warning.

By the time she caught up Sakura was encroaching on tear-territory; she had always been one to cry easily at the smallest of things, but considering she hadn't been so close when she was at the door, Sasuke decided that her ability to hold that back was a bad sign; she was right. As soon as they were seated at the dock with a pile of stones Sakura began to leak from almost every facial orifice except her ears.

"D-Dad is sending Naruto t-to the academy!" she sniffed loudly.

Sasuke was stunned; both their families, or in the case of Sakura and Naruto mostly their caretakers, had been teaching them the very basics of kunai throwing and learning how to mix their mental and physical energies. It usually took several years to completely get the hang of, so the news was surprising. As far as she was aware, Naruto didn't have enough control over his chakra to even be considered for the academy.

"D-Dad was home last night, so he went over our t-training drills, and when he told us to try throwing o-on the run, Naruto somehow activated the H-Hiraishin..." Sakura mumbled around the choking hiccups and snorts that accompanied crying.

Sasuke patted the back of her shoulder in an attempt at comfort, but it was a somewhat distracted action; she was too surprised by the revelation that Naruto had activated his bloodline. Bloodlines usually activated during fights after graduating as a Genin. If a bloodline activated early, then it meant early admittance in order to gain the control over chakra necessary to control it.

"M-Mum and Dad are already gone so much! I don't want to be by myself!" the pink haired girl sniffed.

Sasuke shuffled closed and puled her legs back from hang over the wood of the dock and up to her chin; she knew Naruto wouldn't be happy with this at all, and she wouldn't see him until it was time for her own introduction to the academy, when Naruto would be taken into the proper classes after gaining control over his chakra, and that wouldn't be for at least another year.

Sakura had every right to be upset; unfortunately, Sasuke had no idea how she was supposed to help other than spending her time with the girl as usual, and putting as much work as they could into their training as they could in order to catch up with Naruto. That was a long term solution though, and Sasuke needed one for the short term.

"Why is your hair pink?"

The strange question was enough to stop the wet sniffles and earn the dark-haired girl a confused look; thankful that the sniffles had stopped, Sasuke explained her query.

"Your Dad's hair is yellow, and your Mum's is red; it should be one or the other, or orange"

Sakura blinked as her mind quickly processed the information; a small smile stretched across her face before it grew into a full blown grin full of laughter. The problem wasn't at all solved, but at least it was gone for the moment. Sakura picked up one of the stone and hurled it towards the centre of the lake; Sasuke quickly mimicked the action.

Besides a dislike of being beaten and the fun it supplied it was a good way to unobtrusively vent her own displeasure at the news.

* * *

"Sasuke, come on in! Naruto got back early!"

Sasuke perked up at the news and immediately stepped into the doorway, and hurriedly pulled of her shoes; it had been three months since Sakura had told her Naruto had activated his bloodline, and she'd seen him only thrice in that expanse of time. Following Sakura into the kitchen, she found herself unusually nervous.

She was even more surprised to see the bloody queen herself stirring whatever was boiling on the cooker, still in her Jonin long-sleeve with the Namikaze clan symbol stitched on the back, and the Hokage himself laughing as he scooped small white grains into bowls from the rice cooker. She quickly turned her gaze to the kitchen table.

Naruto was seated on one of the chairs, head bent over an exercise book and pencil in hand; Sasuke frowned and turned to Sakura with a look of confusion on her face. She'd though that Naruto was just going to the academy to get some help on his chakra control; why on earth did he need exercise books to learn chakra control.

Sakura whispered that she would tell her later before taking a seat of her own opposite Naruto whist Sasuke pulled up a chair beside him. He didn't look up once from the book, and continued to carefully write down the answers to question on a hand out half poking out underneath the book. Sasuke was so shocked by his change in attitude that she almost jumped out of her skin when Naruto's equally blonde father took up the seat next to her, finishing the rice portions.

"Naruto, put your homework away! This is the dinner table, not your desk!" Kushina chided, sitting down the bowls of fried chicken and vegetables; Naruto scrunched his nose at the greens, but didn't try to argue and moved the book and paper to the floor.

Sasuke felt out of place as Sakura chatted amicably with her mother, occasionally directing her talk towards her father; she was stuck between Naruto and the village leader, and the ice that hung around her was not pleasant. Every fem minuets, Naruto would send a dissatisfied glare out of the corner of his eye towards his father, who did his best to keep the atmosphere at the table genial all the same.

In an effort to clear the air, she asked Naruto why he needed to do writing when he was only working on his chakra control.

"Mizuki-sensei said I needed to start learning history, so he put me into the beginners class" Naruto replied blankly, cutting into his chicken.

Sasuke glanced towards Sakura, who bit her lip guiltily; Sasuke would chew her out for not telling her about that later. Being put into the basic history classes was a bad sign that they wouldn't catch up with Naruto before he graduated. She knew that Naruto and Sakura had a lot of expectations on them; they were the Hokage's children so it was almost predictable that people would expect a lot of things from them.

Naruto being placed in the beginner classes at the academy was a sign that people were starting to pressure them; Sakura had been complaining that their Aunt Rin had been pressing her much harder in her chakra control and targeting drills lately, starting her on actual hand-to hand combat.

Sasuke couldn't say she knew what that felt like, it was really the opposite for her – most of her clan didn't expect much from her for some reason, but she did know that Naruto would hate the predictions being cast on him. He didn't like his father very much at all, so being compared to him would be at all welcome.

A glare sent towards the man on her left from the buy as he chewed his greens confirmed her suspicions long before Sakura had a chance to later that night. He was seated on the small balcony outside his bedroom, going over a simple textbook when she finally found him; his parents made more than enough money between them to afford the two-story penthouse atop one of the pricier apartment complexes in Konoha, near the Hokage building.

Sasuke remembered when they had moved in from the small flat further into the village; his father had promised they would spend more time together but...

"What's the academy like?" she asked, crossing her legs as she sat down next to him, peering at the text in the book over his shoulder.

Naruto looked up briefly, acknowledging that he knew she was there, then back to the book with dissatisfaction clearly written on his face; he flipped a page, irritably scanning his eyes over the printed text.

"It's hard to keep up with... they don't repeat things, so you have to understand first time. They all expect me to keep up too, they want me to be a prodigy kid like dad was, but they only thing I'm any good at is the chakra control lessons."

So that was why he was so focused on the books, to keep up with the work. She hadn't thought work at the academy would be easy, but she'd have thought the teachers would be a little more lenient than what Naruto suggested. He had a tendency to overreact sometimes, but the change in attitude made her wonder if he was.

All his energy seemed to have dissipated into studying – it wasn't Naruto at all, and she didn't like it. It seemed to completely occupy his mind, something that would never have been the case if he had entered with her and Sakura. It was sucking him dry, reminding him of his father too; it was a recipe for something only a shade below disaster. She knew it.

"Naruto, can you promise me something?" she asked, feeling the need to fix things before damage could take hold.

Naruto raised his head from the exercises, an indication that she had his full attention for probably the first time that night; Sasuke didn't know how much worth it was, but if there was one thing Naruto always did it was keep his promises.

"Don't let this... You aren't your father. Don't turn into him, don't sideline us okay?"

He stared at her for a few more moments before turning back to the book.  
"I promise."


	2. Convoluted Simplicity

**TWISTED DESTINIES

* * *

**A different sealing, a different set-up of the Sannin, and a different gender results in a very different course of events in the ninja world; can a Sharinganless Sasuke gain the respect of her clan, and will the pressures of family be to much for Naruto? An attempt at Narilyte's Sannin-Swap Challenge; NaruSasu, ShikaSaku, FemSasu.

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**ACT I: SCENE II  
~ CONVOLUTED SIMPLICITY ~

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**"_Let me not to the marriage of true minds,  
admit impediments." ~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116.

* * *

_  
Another nine months passed, adding another year to Sasuke's age, and despite his words Naruto grew ever more consumed by the work given by the academy; even Sakura, who lived with him was lucky to see him emerge from his room for dinner.

Eventually, Sasuke grew sick of the lack of interaction; after pestering her brother until he agreed to accompany her to the academy gates (her mother was paranoid about letting her into the village by herself), she marched through the streets of Konoha closely followed by her amused sibling.

She stood nervously by the academy gates, waiting for the classes to end; now that she was here she was unsure of how to confront Naruto about the problem – there was no fault in studying really, but she didn't like the sheer amount of effort that Naruto was putting into his studying. He was so absorbed in it, he didn't seem to care about anything else, even Sakura.

He had never yelled at her before, but Sakura had told her otherwise a lot recently; her thoughts were interrupted as the bell rang and students began to file from the academy doors; Naruto was one of the last to leave in the company of a boy with brown hair – a Hyuuga – and a girl she recognised as one of Sakura's friends, Ino Yamanaka.

Before he had the chance to head off with the boy, she latched onto his arm and dragged him in the direction of Ichiraku's, ignoring his protests. By the time he was seated on his usual stool, he was red-faced from being so mad at her actions.

"Sasuke! I have homework to do! What the hell are you-"  
"You promised you wouldn't push us away from you!" she snapped in reply, before turning to give Mr. Teuchi her order.

Naruto stared at her, faint realisation in his eyes as he remembered the promise he had made almost a year ago; guilt crossed his face and his shoulders drooped; Sasuke sat up a little at the sight, Naruto didn't stoop his shoulders much – his mother had drilled it out of him ages ago. Was this an indication that she was getting through to him?

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to but... the academy is hared than I though it would be; is Sakura mad at me?" he asked; she sensed genuine worry in his voice and decided to relax her anger a little.

"She's worried – she doesn't like seeing you studying and practising so much" she replied carefully.

His words bothered her; were chakra drills and history lessons really so hard? Sakura had told her that he spent any spare time either studying or practising chakra drills and throwing exercises. Why was Naruto throwing himself into this so suddenly? He didn't even like studying! He hated it like she hated sweet and Sakura spicy food! Nothing he did made sense to her.

"Just make sure you apologise or something" she reprimanded, picking up the chopsticks as Teuchi set their bowls down in front of them.

Naruto nodded, digging into his own noodles, and she couldn't help but smile; it was more subdued now, but Naruto still loved ramen no matter where it came from.

* * *

Another two years passed, and this time Naruto kept his word; he was not so quick to disclose information he would have spilled without prompt before, still did a lot of work for the academy, and spent a lot of time practising, but he practiced with Sakura and herself instead of at the in-school training grounds, and finding time to simply have fun was much easier.

Soon, it was time for all of them to enter the academy – and the ninja system – officially.

Sasuke stood amongst the other new recruits nervously as Naruto's father gave them the opening address; glancing around she could see Lee standing behind Sakura, and she was certain that girl with the pale eyes and short hair was the Hyuuga heir – she couldn't be certain since the Hyuugas lived on the other side of the village, but she had heard about her. She could at least recognise several of the clan heirs, but she couldn't see Naruto anywhere.

He should have been in amongst the new recruits but he wasn't there; a glance towards Sakura found her looking down at her feet, giving Sasuke a nervous glance out of the corner of her eye. She was distracted as the Hokage finished his speech, and Choji's father – the head of he academy – started giving the instructions for class numbers, and how the loyalty oaths would be taken.

Sasuke was luckily sent into the same group as Sakura and was able to worm her way through the mass of students towards her pink-haired friend; they stopped outside the heads office, waiting in line to take their loyalty oath in front of Minato and Choza in the man's office, and she finally got in place behind Sakura and in front of a boy from the Inuzuka clan – Kiba?

"Sakura, where's Naruto?" she hissed, half worried, half annoyed.

Sakura frowned, wringing her hands.

"I don't know – the opening ceremony is one thing, but if he misses the oath then he wont be able to-"  
"S_econd year students please report to floor three for introduction to infiltration strategies"_

Sasuke and Sakura watched as one of the doors on the other side of the hall opened; a mass of second year students emerged from the room for a set of stairs. The sinking feeling in Sasuke's gut disappeared when no yellow haired boy emerged from the class. Sasuke breathe a sigh of relief as the Hyuuga girl from earlier left the office, and the queue moved forward.

A dark haired boy with short hair and an odd smile entered the office, almost distracting Sasuke and Sakura from the voice that called out through the hall.

"Naruto, hurry up! Were going to be late! You heard the announcement!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped back to the door to the classroom; she recognised Ino in the doorway, and Neji. The blood drained from her face as a familiar head of blonde hair joined them.

She was frozen as Naruto headed past without a word, instead talking to Ino about a test they had been given in the classroom, for only a few moments before abandoning her place in the line and chasing after him.

"Why are you in the second year classes?" she demanded, pulling on his shoulder to bring him to face her.

The Hyuuga boy blinked in time with Ino's raised eyebrows at the displeasure rolling off her face, and Naruto visibly shrunk away from her; well, at least he still knew what she could do when her temper was in the right place.

"Sasuke? I thought the induction ceremony wasn't until later?" he asked, raising a blonde eyebrow in confusion.  
"It was this morning, and you haven't answered my question!" she snapped in reply.

Ino took one look at the awkward expression on Naruto's face and took hold of Neji's arm, quick to shush his protests as she dragged him towards the stairs. Naruto shot her a grateful look before pulling Sasuke to one side, out of the way of other student healing in the same direction.

One of the other students shouted a reminder of some kind to him, and Sasuke shot a glare towards the blonde boy.  
"They moved you up!" she snapped, punching him in the jaw.

Naruto winced at the blow, but didn't show any sort of denial to her declaration. Instead, he chose to prove her correct through his own attempt to justify himself.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I knew you'd freak out! If it's any consolation, I didn't tell Sakura either! I promise, I'll talk to you later, but I have to get to class now; go up to the roof at lunch all right?"

Sasuke glared at him.

"No, you explain this now! You'll just dodge the subject if-"  
"Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sasuke snapped her head around back towards the office, and found the plump academy-head waving her over with a grin on his face. She turned to Naruto again, only to find him heading down the corridor.

Sakura stood just outside the office door, biting her lip – she had obviously seen the whole thing after taking the oath herself.

"Sasuke, what did he say? Why is he with the second-"  
"Miss Namikaze, please hurry along to your first class! You don't want to be late!" Choza prompted cheerily.

Sakura gave Sasuke's face a worried glance before hurrying down the hallway towards the first year classrooms. Choza smiled, and waved Sasuke into the office; she could already see Naruto's father standing in the room.

He was talking to the woman in charge of the Kunoichi classes for the graduating pupils. She ignored the surprised look on Choza's face as she stomped into the office with rage on her face to take the loyalty oath.

* * *

Sasuke was supposed to be listening to Iruka talk about the founding of Konoha, but she could really concentrate; lee was a bit too excitable for her comfort, and Choji really didn't seem to do anything but eat. It wouldn't have been so bad if she could have been seated next to the Hyuuga girl or Sakura, but they were seated at the front of the class.

And thus, she was left to stew over what had been revealed that morning by herself; how had Naruto managed to hide being moved up a whole year ahead of them? Had his father done it? Wouldn't his mother have told Sakura if that was the case?

It explained why he had been so focused on academy work in the past few years, but... why hadn't he told them? Why hadn't he thought to share this sort of thing with her? She spent more time with Naruto than she did with her own older brother sometimes! How had she failed to see this?

She stared out of the window towards the training grounds; she could see Naruto clearly from the hair colour, aiming a mass of shuriken towards the target.

All perfect, or at the very least close to; she felt a flicker of irritation build up when one of the girls – she didn't recognise her – latched onto him, seemingly gushing praises as he walked back to his seat on the ground beside Neji and Ino.

Couldn't the stupid thing tell he didn't like it? She was probably telling him all about how he was smart like his dad – if she was so obsessed, couldn't she see that he hated it?

Iruka called on her to name one of the founders of the village – easy question there, one of them was her own ancestor – and she drew her attention from the window, just to avoid any more surprise attacks from the man.

Was that why Naruto hadn't told them he was moving up a year? Because he thought she and Sakura would start acting like that?

No, Naruto was an idiot sometimes, but he wasn't that much of an idiot; he knew better than to think that she and Sakura would think the same way as the villagers. Sakura was under the same thing for god's sake! Maybe not quite to the same extent, but people still expected a lot from her – not like Sasuke's clan.

They didn't expect her to be anything more than mediocre, if that.

The bell rang, signalling the change of teachers; after assigning their homework (a two page essay on the village founders already?) Iruka was replaced by Mizuki, and he grey haired man instantly wrinkled his nose at the sight of her; she shot him a full force glare, and he moved onto their basic illusion theory.

She caught sight of Naruto's class heading back inside – Naruto had been held back by the teacher. Sasuke frowned at the man gestured towards the target; Sasuke didn't see anything wrong with it, even from a distance she could tell that it was a perfect shot on the bullseye. The man gave a sympathetic smile – the _'it shouldn't be hard for the Hokage's son'_ kind.

What was it going to take for those idiots to realise that maybe Naruto didn't want to do better? She doubted he would have become a ninja if his father hadn't started him on the basics so early. He was already at the top of his class, he had already activated his bloodline! They should be glad he was doing so well, not finding constant fault!

When were they going to be satisfied?

* * *

The bell for lunch rang, and Sasuke all but ran from the classroom; Naruto had been right about the work! She hadn't even been there for a whole day and she was beginning to see why Naruto had spent so much time studying when he was younger – how had Itachi managed all this so early? She already had more homework than she could handle!

An essay on the founders for Iruka, a three chapter read-up of Ikebana and tea ceremony, and another essay on their use in the ninja system for her Kunoichi class, and Mizuki wanted them to find time to master their first generic illusion – just to use as a cover, but still! She had three more classes, and all this was due in for the next day!

Sakura snapped to her arm like a leech, looking just as shocked by the workload they would be facing for the next four years, and they both fled to the roof to face another problem; Naruto was leaning against the railings, scarfing down a selection of rice balls at monumental speed. He caught sight of them and grinned, waving them over.

Before Sasuke could confront him – Sakura completely ruined the moment by moving with speed almost matching her bloodline and squashing her brother with the resulting hug.

"Nii-san, we need help! I don't understand Mizuki-sensei at all and he wants us to master an illusion by tomorrow!" she squawked, panic definitely in her voice if not her face.

Naruto gave her a horrified, wide eyed look at the change in address, looking to Sasuke for an explanation; Sasuke herself was so stunned she forgot that she was supposed to be giving him the stiff-upper-lip treatment.

Since when did Sakura call Naruto Nii-san? Yes, Naruto was older, but by mere minuets – they were close enough that they didn't bother with honorifics like that. Sasuke used them with Itachi, if she was feeling incredibly polite and in the right mood, or if the situation demanded it – she had used them more as a child.

She would use them very rarely with Naruto and Sakura – they were a year older than her after all – but it was incredibly rare, and besides, she didn't feel comfortable using them with Naruto. But Sakura?

"What in the name of fire did you just call me?" he asked, in pure horror.

Sakura looked at him for a few moments before realisation dawned, and her face took on a pale colour of equal horror; Sasuke snickered as she hurriedly let go of him and backed away nervously.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't understand all this! I thought you were just ignoring us, but this stuff is really hard isn't it? " she apologised, pulling a rice-ball of her own out of her bento-box.

Sasuke took a seat beside her and opened her own lunch; tomato rice balls were the most notable content. She internally thanked her mother over and other for a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise awful day.

Picking up one of them and eagerly stuffing it into her mouth, she listened to the conversation Sakura had taken up with her brother – she seemed to have finally addressed the matter of Naruto's year jump.

"Why didn't you tell me? Does mum know? Why didn't dad say something like when you first entered the academy?" she demanded angrily around the mouthful of rice and pickled plum.

"Because I told him not to; you know how mum gets! I don't need them arguing when they hardly see each other as it is! And I didn't tell you because you're the same! You know you'd have panicked, and that would have been pointless! Besides, you didn't need it when you were worrying about entering yourself - It's not like I graduated already, I'm just in a different class!" he retorted, taking a bite out of a rolled omelette.

"You still should have said something..." Sakura mumbled, but the sheepish look on her face told Sasuke she had given in.

Thinking about it, she couldn't argue that Naruto had what he perceived to be a perfectly logical reason for keeping quiet; Kushina was a world champion worrier, passing her own mother by miles – the only people who could possibly rival her were Iruka or her younger sister Rin.

She knew Kushina hadn't been too pleased when Naruto had been admitted to the academy (according toSakura); apparently their dad had been on the couch for a week.

Thinking about it in context, it wasn't all that far-fetched; still, he could have told her couldn't he? Apparently Sakura was thinking the same thing, because she asked Naruto that exact question.

"Sasuke's just as bad as you – she just hides it really well!"

Sasuke's face was beet red as she threw one of her octopus-sausages at his forehead; Naruto was unfazed and let out a loud snort of laughter, Sakura's own stifled snickers making an accompaniment. She glared at the two of them and turned back to her lunch; the tiny smile on her lips was hidden by her fringe.

Everything seemed back to normal now, and with any luck it would stay that way this time.

* * *

Sasuke frowned at the book in front of her, before getting up from the table and going to one of the bookshelves, Kiba continuing to silently bang his head on the table in frustration; they were supposed to he analysing a scenario on retrieval missions from one of the teachers, and the one they had received was a notorious one – the Kyuubi attack.

They were supposed to come up with alternatives to the original play-out of the event, but actual information on it was disgustingly difficult to find – she had fount a three brief paragraphs out of a total of seven scrolls, five newspaper articles, and three different textbooks. She and Kiba were close to giving up and just handing what they had in as a bad job – they could just take a remedial to boost the grade later on.

Still, one last loom was worth a try – leafing through the shelves, she found one book with an actual picture of the monster on the back cover; it was just a silhouette in a black and white photo, but it was the best thing she had found in the academy library so far. Knowing they would need to use the book later on she headed for the librarian's desk.

The woman wrinkled her face at the sight of her, and Sasuke glared right back; some of the people in the village were so weird, glaring at her for no reason. She scanned the book tag just beneath the front cover over the edge of her glasses, before handing the book back, stamp-less.

"I'm sorry miss Uchiha, but that book is for second years and above only; I cannot allow you to use this book"

Sasuke's jaw dropped in anger.

"But it was in the first year section! I need it for scenario analysis! I've been through all the other history books and there's nothing on the Kyuubi attack anywhere!" she protested

She felt like crying; she could already see her grade taking a dip, and she couldn't let her grades fall any lower! She was already struggling to keep them on a passing grade! There was so much work to keep up with and homework and revision besides practice! She had that stupid Ikebana thing to make tonight too!

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules Miss Uchiha – first years cannot have that book! Please take it back to the shelf; and don't try to read it on the way, because I'll know about it!"

Sasuke snarled and gritted her teeth, but turned around and stomped back towards the shelf; she was so irritated, she didn't even see Naruto and Ino heading in her direction, and crashed into the boy head first.

"Sasuke? Wha! what's got you so frazzled" he asked, in surprise on both accounts; the first meeting, the second her obvious irritation.

Sasuke snarled, and held up the book to explain her irate demeanour.

"The librarian won't let me take this stupid book out! She says it's for second years only, but I got it from the first year section! I have scenario analysis on the Kyuubi to do, and this is the only book with any decent information in it, but that stupid librarian won't let me check it out!" she snapped, glaring at the book as if it were entirely at fault.

"What? The old bag said that? She never does that when we use the third year books!" Ino commented, disbelief on her face as she peered at the book.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and glanced towards the librarian;she was busy filing away some of the graduate-books that contained actual techniques behind the counter. A smug grin came over Naruto's face, and his expression turned to the black-haired girl in front of him. Before she could protest, he had swiped the book from her hands.

"Wait here, I'll get it out for you," he grinned, heading of towards the librarians desk.

He spent perhaps two minuets discussing the book, supposedly grinning at something the woman gushed, before the old woman stamped the book and handed it back to him. He headed back towards her and deposited the book back in her hands with a smile.

"Thanks," Sasuke mumbled, looking at the contents of the book to hide her blush – why was she blushing? Naruto was just being nice.  
"It's nothing – I had the same one last year, so I know what a nightmare it is trying to find a decent book on the thing!" Naruto grinned.

Sasuke did not point out the obvious by asking why he didn't simply ask his father how he had defeated the demon; that was just asking for trouble. Sakura might have asked, if she had the same exercise (which -irritatingly – she did not), but she would been hard pressed to find a spare moment in the man's timetable to do so.

"You look a bit tired, you okay?" Naruto asked, leaning forward to give her face a better glance – Sasuke felt her face heat up with the close proximity and immediately took a step backwards.

"I'm fine" Sasuke grumbled, trying to ignore the warm breath inches away from her.

"Naruto, we have to go find Neji! he'll be chomping at the bit if we don't get pack with those transformation notes!" Ino complained; Neji was simply intolerable when he was irritated.

Naruto smiled and riffled her hair, messing the shoulder length locks horrifically; Sasuke removed the hand with a glare and red cheeks. She watched as he left the library with Ino, and felt a spark of something unpleasant boil inside her chest as Ino linked her arm with his cheerily.

She wouldn't realise it for a few more years, but that unpleasant something was a green eyed monster called jealousy.


End file.
